Shining the Light of Awareness on Abuses
As Buddhism comes West, scandals and culture clashes come with it
Let none find fault with others; let none see the omissions and commissions of others. But let one see one’s own acts, done and undone.—Gautama Buddha, Dhammapada, verse 50, Gil Fronsdal translation
Conquer anger with non-anger; conquer wickedness with goodness; conquer stinginess with giving, and a liar with truth.—Gautama Buddha, Dhammapada, verse 223, Gil Fronsdal translation
Let none deceive another…—Gautama Buddha, Metta Sutta
I’ll do my best to write this post in the spirit of those quotations from the Buddha. I hope you’ll read them mindfully, and the rest of the post in their spirit.
In addition to guiding us toward being better beings, the Buddha’s quotations above promote group harmony, a core principle in Asian cultures. It won’t surprise those of us in the West that we lean toward “I, me, and mine.” Those characteristics have become built into our respective characters. In his groundbreaking 2012 book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt gave this example, among others, from his research:
…when asked to write twenty statements beginning with the words “I am …,” Americans are likely to list their own internal psychological characteristics (happy, outgoing, interested in jazz), whereas East Asians are more likely to list their roles and relationships (a son, a husband, an employee of Fujitsu).
Problems arising from cultural differences in multinational religions are not unique to Buddhism. We’ve seen recent examples in the worldwide Anglican and United Methodist communities over issues like homosexuality and abortion. I know of no statistical studies to back me up, but reading the worldwide news tells me that accusations of sexual, physical, and verbal abuse are most common in religious organizations with revered leaders, cloistered environments, and an ethic of not calling out the failings of others.
Roman Catholicism and Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism fit the category. That doesn’t mean that the teachings and ethics of those religions are “wrong” or “bad.” I’m a Vajrayana Buddhist and follow the teachings to the best of my ability and understanding. It does mean that we practitioners should recognize that abuses have occurred, have the wisdom to set boundaries as needed, use skillful means to prevent abuses from happening again, and bring forth our compassion to support victims.
In the West, since Dr. Haidt’s research and book, we’ve had the birth of the me-too movement, which strengthened the voice of women and other victims of sexual abuse to speak out. We’ve also had the growth of a cancel culture that sometimes damages reputations and livelihoods over what may be misunderstandings. So sometimes the “victims” we comfort may include the accused as well as the accuser.
Although abuse is a reality in non-cloistered as well as cloistered environments, Asia’s monasteries can be dangerous places for young boys, especially those from poor families who are identified as tulkus—reincarnations of great masters. They are often removed to monasteries at around four years old and educated rigorously with the single focus of becoming great teachers themselves. Many come through this well. The Dalai Lama is a prime example.
Some don’t do as well. In April this year, I received a short teaching and a long-life empowerment from the Second Kalu Rinpoche, born in September 1990 and quickly identified as the reincarnation of one of the first and most revered gurus to teach in the West. I watched a poised, articulate, and funny 33-year-old who—it seemed odd to me—mentioned suffering from acute anxiety.
Later, I learned more about his childhood. He grew up happy and cared for until the age of seven, when his father—who had been secretary to the first Kalu Rinpoche—died. That left the tulku alone in a series of monasteries, where he was abused in every sense of the word. At the age of 20 or 21, after recovering from drug addiction, he broke his victimhood silence with a 10-minute homemade video.
Bless you, Kalu Rinpoche!
One of the most notorious cases of abuse allegations in the Vajrayana community in the West involved Sogyal Rinpoche (1947-2019), a prolific author and founder of Rigpa, a worldwide network of Buddhist centers and groups. His The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying has been printed in 30 languages in 56 countries and remains a highly relied-on source of Buddhist wisdom.
Rumors about Sogyal Rinpoche surfaced in the 1990s when a lawsuit alleging sexual and physical abuse was settled out of court. New allegations against him gained widespread attention in July 2017 when a group of senior students published an open letter detailing physical, emotional, and sexual abuse as well as a “lavish lifestyle.”
The following month, Sogyal retired from his position at Rigpa, and a subsequent independent investigation confirmed many of the allegations.
Ösel Tendzin, the first American dharma heir of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and leader of the Vajradhatu community (now known as Shambhala International), was born Thomas Frederick Rich Jr. in 1943 and died in 1990. In 1988, it was revealed that Tendzin had continued to have unprotected sex with students despite knowing he was HIV-positive, and senior members of the organization covered up his actions.
Controversies continued in the renamed Shambala International. Tendzin’s teacher, Chögyam Trungpa (1939-87)—who founded Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado—faced allegations of sexual and physical abuse, as has Trungpa’s son, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.
Early high-profile cases in the Western Zen community involved Richard Baker, the former San Francisco Zen Center abbot. In 1983, Baker resigned from his position after an outcry over a relationship with the wife of a close friend. This scandal was particularly significant because the center was one of the first and most influential Zen institutions in the United States. The center has recently been in “increased contact (with Baker); a renewal of friendship and dharma relations.”
One of the most infamous scandals in the Zen community involved Joshu Sasaki Roshi, a Japanese Zen teacher who founded the Mount Baldy Zen Center in California. Although allegations of his misconduct dated back to the 1950s, it wasn't until the 1990s that these issues began to be more widely discussed. A 2012 investigation revealed that Sasaki had engaged in sexual misconduct with female students for decades, with some incidents allegedly involving coercion and attacks.
Another prominent case involved Eido Tai Shimano (1932-2018), the founding abbot of the New York Zendo Shobo-Ji in Manhattan and Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-Ji monastery in the Catskill Mountains of New York. Although allegations of Shimano's sexual misconduct had circulated for decades, it wasn't until 2010 that the Zen Studies Society acknowledged the problem and forced his resignation.
In many forms of Buddhism and other religions, students may view a teacher, minister, or priest as having reached a higher realm of being—one that always puts the student’s needs before the teacher’s, so whatever the teacher says or does is in the student’s best interests. That belief may have validity, but it can also be a roadmap to an inappropriate blurring of boundaries.
One of my teachers, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, is a highly realized teacher who profoundly understands Tibetan and Western cultures. If you need to understand the role of a spiritual teacher better, here’s his article written after the Sogyal Rinpoche allegations surfaced.
I’ll skip the musical bonus today and end this post with a quote from the poem Please Call Me by My True Names, written by the venerable Vietnamese teacher and author Thich Nhat Hanh when he worked rescuing the boat people making their perilous escape from South Vietnam after the Communist takeover in 1975.
I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat, who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate. And I am also the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving.
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